“It’s… it’s…” she reached for the right words, as she still held her breath. “you.”
He laughed softly. “Excuse me?” He said, grinning slightly and showing his perfectly straight, white teeth. Larissa did not know what to say. Her mind was in a mess of emotions and thoughts, which all ran wildly from one another. She looked him up and down, still not believing what she saw. It was the man in the alley, the one that had invaded her dreams the past day. She was intrigued with his beauty, her senses seduced by everything about him, yet she was afraid of what had happened earlier. She did not know what to say, or if she should say anything at all.
“Can I help you, Madame?” He said with a slight English accent, snapping her out of her thoughts for a moment. She now remembered the task at hand.
“Oh, yes… um, I was wondering… I could not start my car, and I wanted to know if you could jump-start it for me…” She tried to look everywhere but at him, fidgeting nervously, now painfully aware of the sweatshirt-and-boxers attire that she donned. She quickly ran her fingers through her tousled hair.
“Well, I do not have jumper cables, but I do not have anything to do at the moment. If you like, I am able to take you to your destination.” Her first instinct was to say no, for she was not stupid, and she recalled the rule that was pounded into every child’s head from an early age. *Do not take rides from strangers* .
“Yes, that would be great.” She mentally kicked herself in the head. Why was she so weak around this man?
“Good…” He replied, taking her hand and guiding her into the backseat of his vehicle, never letting his eyes wander from her beautiful face. He climbed in after her, pushing the coat of his three-quarter length D&G black coat to the side as he sat down. “Christopher… you know where to go…” He stated as the driver of the vehicle started the car. He nodded slightly without ever looking back, and started the drive.
“But wait… Ran-“ She stopped her words in mid-sentence, realizing that this wasn’t one of her dreams. “How do you know where to go” She trailed off, her mind still off guard thinking about the strange dreams that she had in the past day, wondering why she was dreaming about this particular man. She was surprised that she had run into him, and even more surprised that she actually took a ride from him considering the previous night and it’s events.
“Larissa…” He trailed off, gazing into her eyes as if they held so much to him, never wanting to let them go. He shocked her as he slowly took her delicate face into his large, cold hands, caressing the soft skin of her cheekbones. “Remember me… please…” He let go, brushing his fingertips against her jawbone, sending chills down her spine.
She could not think straight as they pulled into the parking lot of her roommate’s work, only gazing into his eyes and receiving the pleading, the wanting, that she had received the first night that they had their encounter. Before she knew it, she was standing solo in the parking lot, watching the Mercedes pull out with lighting speed.
“He never even…” she trailed off, thinking to herself, as she clutched the spot on her jaw from which his hand trailed. She tried to shake off this weird encounter as she walked up to Atella, who was standing inside of the lobby. She did not need anymore stress on her, especially the week that she had off for Spring Break.
“Who the hell was that?” Atella snapped at her, as she gazed off in the direction that the car had taken off in.
“I- I don’t… a friend of mine…” She compensated as she glared at her friend. After a couple of moments, both of the young women realized that they had no way of getting back home.
“Great… just great Larissa…” Atella fumed as the two girls sat on the edge of the curb, pondering what to do next. Larissa just slumped over and shrugged her shoulders.
“My car wouldn’t start…” She whispered, still not able to shake the feeling of “Randall’s” hands off. She constantly gazed in the direction that the car took off in, not caring about anything else.
“FINE! I see how it is…” Atella muttered to her roommate. “I’m going inside to call a cab, and you’re splitting the cost with me, Larissa.” She stormed off to the inside of the lobby, and returned 5 minutes later. “They should be here any minute.” She said, taking her place on the curb back.
Soon the cab pulled up, and both girls got in. The whole way home, Atella was babbling on and on about one of her new love interests at work, but Larissa could not seem to concentrate on the words that were coming out of her mouth. She was too intrigued by the events that had been taking place in the last couple of days, and was lost in her own dream world. Of course, Atella did not notice this, because she too was lost in her own thoughts.
“Larissa! Where’s your damn money?” Larissa snapped out of her daze and realized that the two girls were in front of their apartment. She pulled out a 10-dollar bill and handed it to the man, telling him to keep the change. “What’s wrong with you?” Atella worked to keep up with Larissa as she trudged up the stairs. “The ride only cost 6 dollars! You never used to tip anyone before!”
“I don’t know… I’m just tired…” Larissa trailed off, “I need to get to sleep. Please, Atella, when we get inside, don’t wake me up for anything, OK?” She stopped for a moment and stared into her roommate’s face intently.
“Ok… sure… whatever.” Atella said, taking the hint. They got inside shortly after, and Larissa just ran to her room and plopped down on the bed, not bothering to take off her clothes. She desperately wanted to fall asleep again, to get lost in the continuous dream that she was having. She needed some sort of answer, for she was trying to piece together the events that were taking place… the weird dreams, the weird encounters with the man of her dreams… it was all too strange for her.
She curled up into a ball on her side, taking in deep breaths, and awaiting Randall in her dreams…
~Meanwhile~
Atella threw all of her belongings on the couch and headed for her room, annoyed, yet relieved that Larissa just decided to bolt to her room like that. She had been wanting some quiet time to herself, but at the same time she wanted to talk to Larissa. For some reason, the past day she was acting a little strange, and she wanted to know what was going on. She sat on the edge of her bed and stripped herself of her work clothes, leaving her in her bra and underwear. She felt one hundred percent more comfortable than she was feeling the whole day. She slowly lowered herself onto the bed, closing her eyes.
“I’ll just take a small nap…” She thought to herself as she curled up comfortably next to her blankets, pushing the stressful thoughts of the day into the back of her mind. She continued to sleep for a short while until the phone rang. Quickly thinking about her promise that she made to Larissa, she ran to pick it up, throwing all of her blankets on the floor.
“Hello?” Atella groggily said into the phone. There was no response. “HELLO?” She screamed, waking herself up. Still no reply. “Ugh!” She dropped the receiver down, frustrated by the phone call. She stood by the counter, still clad in her bra and underwear, trying to recollect her senses.
Suddenly, there was a large crashing noise coming from outside, which made Atella jump. She walked to one of the windows and pushed open the blinds, seeing that it was pouring in the night skies. “Lord!” She thought to herself, “How can it be raining? It was completely clear-skied today…” She worked to shake off this weird occurrence, and started walking to Larissa’s room, hoping that the thunder did not wake her up. Peeking her head in, she saw that Larissa was sleeping soundly, curled up into a cute little ball.
Atella sighed and walked back to the living room. As soon as she sat down, a strong feeling came over her entire body. She felt a rush of cold on her skin, yet a hot sensation that coursed through her veins. The feeling was entirely erotic to Atella, yet frightening at the same time, for she did not know where this was coming from. She ran her hands up and down the lengths of her arms, trying to get rid of it. She soon began to feel lightheaded as she continued these motions on the couch.
“Go to your room.” The voiceless sentence rang through her head, coming as quickly as it left. As if moved by an unknown force, she silently walked to her room, all the while acting like a possessed zombie. Her thoughts were entirely jumbled, and all she could focus on was the command that shot out from nowhere. She came around the corner to her room, and slowly looked up.
And there it was.
